Pierre Dubois and his sexy girlfriend, Manon, sail on the American Clipper, Flying Cloud, for San Francisco at the height of the Gold Rush — Dubois tasked to prove mining society fraud and Manon to open a restaurant French law won’t allow a woman to own. With most of the easy to mine gold gone and boatloads of new gold seekers arriving weekly, San Francisco is a lawless, raucous, dangerous place in 1851, where quarrels are settled by a gun, men outnumber women 100-1, and crooks rule the streets, bordellos, and gambling palaces. Dubois’ and Manon’s odyssey lead them through Little China’s opium dens, brothels, and gambling lairs, Little Italy’s charming trattorias, and on to the gold fields of the Yuba River where American and foreign miners compete in hostile conditions with each other for the rare chance to strike it rich. After the City is torched by the predatory Sydney Ducks gang and a Committee of Vigilance seeks to hang them, Pierre and Manon must make their way and earn their keep or return home defeated and impoverished like most who risked life, health and family debt for a dream of riches.

Ken Salter is a professor emeritus in Communication Studies at San Jose State University, San Jose, CA where he taught critical thinking and persuasive writing courses, and directed pre-legal studies. He is also an international attorney specialized in international real estate and mining. He directed a placer gold mining company for 15 years in Mexico and Chile. He is the author of several books on famous trials including the Trial of Dan White, who killed San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. He and his French wife live in Berkeley, CA and in the Auvergne, France.